Transverse pile wire loom



Nov. 14, 1961 HJ. SMILEY TRANSVERSE PILE WIRE LOOM 4 Sheets-Sheet lFiled Aug. 16, 1960 mbv |N`vENfroR= HARRY J. SMILEY ,An'llll'itk l ATTY.

Nov. 14, 1961 H. J. SMILEY TRANSVERSE PILE WIRE LOOM 4 Sheets-Sheet' 2Filed Aug. 16, 1960 A vor. @www Q .MOC

Nov. 14, 1961 H. J. SMILEY k 3,008,494

TRANSYERSE PILE WIRE LOOM 4 Sheets-Sheel'. 3

Filed Aug. is, 1960 FIGS.

Ff@ E INvcN-ron: HARRY J. SMILEY l Bv H. J. SMILEY TRANSVERSE PILE WIRELOOM 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 .SOC

HARRY J. SMILE? Nov. 14, 1961 Filed Aug. 1e, 1960 United States Patent()3,008,494 p TRANSVERSE PILE WIRE LOOM Harry J. Smiley, Glasgow, Va.,assignor to James Lees fand Sons Company, Bridgeport, Pa., a corporationof Delaware Filed Aug. 16, 1960, Ser. No. 49,973

4 Claims. (Cl. 13942) f 'carrying needle described in my previousapplication has been found to be of great Iadvantage -in the operationof inserting and withdrawing the pile wires. The present disclosurecarries forward this concept anddescribes my improved scroll drive inconjunction with a conventional wire motion on a carpet loom.

The principal object of the invention, therefore, is -to provide animproved drive mechanism for the wire motion ona pile fabric loom. p Afurtherfobject of the invention is to provide an improved wire motion ona pile fabric loom utilizing a walking beamcarrying a double scrollsheave which oscillates back and forth on a pair of racks.

v A further object of the invention is to provide an improved wiremotion in which the velocity of the wires is` carefully controlled atall times to permit dwell at one end of the stroke.

A further object of the invention is to provide a wire motion for acarpet loom having a double scroll drum mounted on a shaftconcentrically with two pinions, a

i pair of'horizontal racks with which the pinions mesh,

` wires in accordance with conventional practice.

' FIGUREl is a top View of a part of a transverse wire A pilev fabricloomshowing the wire motion incorporating the present invention, I

" FIGUREZ is a front view of a'part of the structure ofFIGURE 1, Y v,

FIGURE 3 is a top view of the remainder of the wire motiondriveof FIGUREl', I

FIGURE 4 is a front view Aof theV structure of FIG- URE,3, y i

,FIGURE 5 is an enlarged fragmentary detail as seen at 5-5 of FIGURE 4showing the mounting for one of the pulleys over which the cable passes,

p FIGURE 6 is an exploded view showing an adjustable mounting for therack rail, t

FIGURE 7 is Van enlarged transverse section as seen at 7-7 of FIGURE 4,Y y

' FIGURE 8 is a section as seen lat 8-8 of FIGURE 7,

FIGURE 9 is a section as seen -at 9 9 of FIGURE 7, FIGURE 10 is anenlarged sectional det-ail as seen at 10-@10 of FIGURE7,

lFIGURE ll is an enlarged detail las seen at I11-'11 of FIGURE 4, and

FIGURES 12-11'4 are diagrammatic views of the double drum and itsrelative positions on the racks during selected parts' of the cycle. Theterm wire motion may be'used to include the entire assembly forcontrolling the insertion I'and Withdrawal of the pile wires, but in thepresent description, it ispreferred to separate the' driving mechanismfrom the actual motion itself which comprises an oscillating hopperplatehaving the function of grasping individual pile ICC Wires Iandinserting them separately into the shed and then withdrawing the rstwire of a series of Wires from the fabric in preparation for the nextsubsequent insertion.

Referring now more particularly to the drawings, the drive mechanism forthe wire motion of a transverse wire pile fabric loom constructed inaccordance with the present invention comprises a frame'assembly 13which is mounted on posts 14, 15 substantially at right angles to thepath of travel of the hopper plate 16. Driving connections `for the wiremotion are achieved through the loom shaft 17 which is extended toterminate in a crank 18 between and in line with the posts 14, 15.However, the precise angle and location of the posts 14, 15 isimmaterial insofar as the Wire motion is concerned and the hopper platevelocity control .mechanism may therefore berlocated in any position onthe mill floor to which suitable driving land timing connections to theloomv can be established.

The hopper plate 16 oscillates horizontally on the wire table 19 toinsert and withdraw pile formingI wires W, 'W from the shed of aV fabricF being woven; The

Warp yarns o-f the fabric are shown schematically at 20 in FIGURE l, thefell of the fabric at 21, 'and the nished fabric at 22. The pile WiresW, W are used in a set of wires shown at 23 inserted in the shed of thefabric and having pile yarns selectively woven over the The mechanismillustrated herein -for controlling the pile Wires and withdrawing theleading wire and then re-inserting it at thev back of the set 23comprises in addition to the hopper plate 16 a wire holder 24 mountedonthe hopper plate and a wire hook 25 pivotally mounted on the hopperplate and having `a latch which engages in a recess on the head l26 ofeach wire. The hopper plate is provided with the conventional wire hookthrow-out 27 and hopper pawl spring 28 and hopper brake spring 29` asshown in FIGURES l and. 2. Theconventional wire slide 30 is pivoted at31 and oscillates back and forth to and from the broken line positionshown in FIGURE l to the retractlng position shown in full lines. Whenthe hopper plate is all the way to the vleft in FIG- URE l after theinsertion of la pile wire with the wire slide in the upper position, thewire slide pivots to the full linel position and the wire hook engagesthe wire in set 23 nearest to the front of the loom whereupon it iscompletely withdrawn by the righthand movement ofthe hopper platewhereupon the wire pivots to the'b-roken line position and the Wire isagain inserted `at the back of set 23. The wires of the set 23 are heldand retained in position in the conventional wire box 32. The hopperplate is controlled |by two cables 37 and 38, one

end of each cable being anchoredin the cable holder 39.

The retracting cable 37 is trained over a sheave 40, thence around asheave 41 journaled on an `adjustable angle member 42, and 4bracket 43welded to support 14 (FIG. 4). From thence cable 37 passes around aoating sheave 44 which is pivotally mounted on a bracket 45 (FIG. 5).The saddle 46 for sheave 44 is free to turn pivotally in bracket 45 onbearing 47 to which it is securedl by means of lock nuts 48. The bracket45 is also free to slide axially on shaft 50 as well as to rotatearound' the center of shaft 50. For this purpose the bracket is securedto a pair of bearing elements Slandy 52 having a series of `bearings 53which permit rotary oscillation and sliding of the elements 51 and 52.Shaft 50 is secured in a bracket 55 by means of collars 56, 56

' and setscrews 57, 57. The bracket 55 is in turn secured to support 15through angle 58. The construction det 3 are induced by the .change inposition of cable 37 when it is wound and unwound from the double drum60. As will -be seen (FIG. 7), the cab-le 37 is anchored in the drum 60by means of two capscrews 61, 61.

The advancing cable 38 is carried from cab-le holder 39 `over and aroundsheave 64, then over sheave 65. Both of these sheaves 64 and 65 arejournaled in brackets 66, 66 secured to the underside of wire table 19.From thence the cable 38 is trained around a sheave 67, journaled onframe element 69, and the cable then passes to the opposite side of drum60 to be anchored by the bolts 6s, 68 (FIG. 9).

The double drum 60 carries peripheral vgrooves 70 for accommodating eachof the cables 37 and 38. In order to control the velocity of the hopperplate and to provide a suitable dwell when it is retracted, severalconvolutions of the groove 70 on each side of the drum are formed arounda relatively smaller diameter of the drum hub 71. A scroll section 72and 73 on each side of the drum transfers the cables from the hubdiameter to the larger peripheral diameter and vice versa as is shownclearly in FIGS. 8 and 9.

The drum 60 is rigidly keyed to a shaft 74 by means of a key 75. A pairof pinions 76 and 77 are in turn keyed at the termini of shaft 74 'bymeans of keys 78 and 79 respectively. The shaft is journaled in abifurcated yoke 80 of walking beam 81 as shown in FIG. 7, and suitablethrust washers 82 and 83 provide an antifriction contact between theends of hubs 71 and the inner-faces of yoke 80. Pinions 76 and 77 meshwith a pair of racks 85 and 86 which are in turn secured to the rails 87and 88 by means of bolts 89, 89. Under control of the movement ofwalking Ibeam 81 the drum 60 travels in a substantially horizontal pathacross the racks 85 and 86 to wind and unwind the cables 37 and 38 fromthe periphery of the drum. The rails 87 and 88 are adjustably :anchoredin supports 14 and 15 by means of saddle blocks 90, 91, 92, and 93 twoof which are shown in detail in FIG. 6. The termini of rails 87 and 88are formed with welded plates 95 and 96 and provided with horizontalslotted apertures 97, 97. The plates 95 and 96 are adjustably anchoredin cooperating sockets 98 and 99 which are in turn an integral part of aweldment 100 secured to the frame members 14 and 15. Each socket 98 and99 is provided with four adjusting screws 101, 101 which permit completecontrol of the lateral positioning of the rails 87 and 88. When thescrews 101 have been properly adjusted, each one may be locked with itsassociated lock nut 102 and then the plates 95 and 96 can be securelybolted through apertures 97, 97; 103, 103. The structure of the elements90 and 91 is identical to that of 92 and 93 and repetition in connectiontherewithis therefore unnecessary.

Referring now more particularly to FIGURES 4, 6, and 7, the mechanismfor actuating and controlling the movement of drum 60 will be more fullydescribed. Loom shaft 17 is journaled in a pillow block 105 and isprovided with the crank 18 at its outboard end. Crank 18 is connected-to the center of walking beam 81 by means of a rod 106 which isIadjustable at 107 and can be locked in any adjusted position by meansof a lock nut 108. Walking beam 81 is pinned at 110 to a link 111 whichis in turn journaled at 112 in a pedestal 113. A second link 114 isjournaled to the walking beam at 115 which is the journal for connectingVrod 106. The other end of link 114 is journaled in a pillow block 116secured to frame member 117 by means of bolts 118, 118. Link 114 ispinned to a shaft 120 in pillow block 116 by means of a pin 121. I-twill be observed that the distance from the center of shaft V120 to pin115 is equal to the distance from the center of shaft 115 to the centerof shaft 74. This relationship insures that each pinion 76 and 77constantly remains in mesh with its associated rack 85 and 86 throughoutthe travel of the drum between the racks. Rotation of shaft 17 impartsla modified simple harmonic motion to the drum as it travels from oneend of the racks and 86 to the other. The geometry of the linkagesystem, particularly the location and length of link 1111 and pedestal113, are designed .to provide the preferred velocity curve for thedrum60 during its travel.- .A1so, limited adjustment of the dead centerposition of crank 18 can be made by means of suitable setscrews 122, 122and lock nuts 123, 123. Y

In operation, movement of drum 60 back and forth along the racks 85 and86 under control of the walking beam 81 produces the correct timing andcontrolled velocity for the insertion of pile wires W, W into thefabric. Furthermore, the use of the rack and pinion driving elements fordrum 60 permits much greater travel than would otherwise be possibleexcept for the use of a drum having far greater diameter and thereforefar greater inertia forces to be overcome. The importance of thisadvantage will be appreciated when it will be understood that thepresent wire motion can be employed on carpet looms capable of producingcarpet 18 feet in width. With the drum 60 -in the position shown inFIGS. 1, 3, and 4, cable 37 is wound around one side ofthe drum, both inthe hub portion 71, the scroll portion 73, and the peripheral grooves70. Cable 38 however, is payed out and is trained over a small portionof the huh of the drum as shown in FIG. 9 because the wire is fullywithdrawn or retracted 'from the warp shed. As the drum is urged to theright, as seen in FIG. 4, it immediately rotates in a clockwisedirection due to the action of pinions 76 and 77. This rotation of thedrum slowly unwinds cable 37 from its side of the drum 60 and con.currently winds cable 38' around the hub of its side of the drum. Therate of winding and unwinding of the two cables fromY the drum is at alltimes equal. The hopper plate then moves towards the warp shed but at aslower velocity than would be the case if both cables 37 and 38 werewound around the outer periphery. of the drum. However, after sever-alturns which permit suflicient time for changing the sheds, the cablesreach the scrolls 72 and 73, whereupon they -are immediately transferredto the periphery of the drum and therefore rapidly accelerate themovement of the wire into the shed. When Ithe crank 18 is turned 180,the drum is, of course, at the opposite end of racks 85V and 86. In thisposition both cables 37 and 38 extend tangentially from the .peripheryof drum 60 but in oppositevdirections. This is shown to the right inFIGURE 12. Upon reversal of the direction of the drum (that -is fromright to left in FIG. 4) cable 37 winds rapidly and cable 38 unwindsrapidly thus withdrawing the wire from the shed at high velocity.However, since a change of direction is involved, the velocity of thedrum cables Vand Wire must pass through 0 at the reversing position.This transition, however, is made rapidly since the cables are operatingfrom the larger drum periphery. As the wire is thus quickly retractedfrom the shed, the point is reached at which the cables are transferredfrom the outer diameter to the hub diameter which, of course, occursafter the tip of the wire W has been removed `from the warp sheds. Thistransfer of the cables immediately decelerates the wire velocity fromthe peripheral velocity to hub velocity. Further, deceleration, ofcourse, -is provided by the crank 18V as i-t approaches the oppositedead center position before reversal of direction.

FIGURE 12 shows the two extremeY moved positions of drum 60 andillustrates thevariation in travel path of the cable in a horizontalplane thus indicating the importance of the oating mount for pulley 44.FIG- URE 13 is a schematic View which shows the comparison between thelinear positions of the drum 60 on the whole racks when the cable isoperating from either the hub diameter or the peripheral diameter of thedrum and also during the time that the cable is -being trans` ferrelfrom one diameter to the other. In the low velocity dead centerposition, the drum is centered at 150. The center of the drum moveshorizontally to a point shown at 151 with the cable operating in the hubgrooves. The .drum travels horizontally from point 151 to point 152during the transfer of the cable from the hub to the periphery. Frompoint 152 to 153 the cable is operating at high velocity from theperiphery and until the drum returns to station 152 when the sequencereverses. The comparison between the tilting of pulley 44 as shown inFIGS. 13 and 14 shows how the floating mounting of this pulleycompensates additionally for the change in elevation of the cables 37yand 38. Since the cables during one period of the cycle operate fromthe drum periphery and during `another period of the cycle they operatefrom the hub periphery, this change in elevation requires a oating mountfor pulley 44 which is the pulley located nearest to the drum.

It will thus be understood that I have provided an eX- tremely efficientwire motion for a fabric loom. The use of a double rack and pinion isimportant in eliminating the necessity for greater cable length, largerdrum diameter, greater inertia forces, and greater space requirements.The device is flexible insofar as its installation on the loom isconcerned and may be mounted at right angles to the wire table as shown,or may, if desired, be mounted parallel thereto. Provided `a suitable`driving connection for the drum is present, any intermediate angularmounting may also be employed. The mounting of the pulleys, particularlypulley 44, cooperates to reduce the length of cable and space required.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

l. A wire motion for a transverse wire pile fabric loom comprising areciprocating hopper plate for carrying pile wires into the shed of afabric being woven, a wire slide for guiding said pile Wires, aretracting cable anchored at one end to the hopper plate for linearlyoscillating said hopper plate in one direction, an advancing cableanchored at one end to the hopper plate for linearly oscillating saidhopper plate in the opposite direction, a cable drum having a smalldiameter periphery and a relatively larger diameter periphery forcontrolling each of said cables, means for anchoring the other end ofeach cable to said drum, means for transferring each of said cables toand from its associated small and large diameter drum peripheries, ashaft keyed to said drum, a pinion keyed to each end of said shaft, arack positioned to mesh with each of said pinions, a framework forsupporting said racks, a walking beam for oscillating the drum andpinions along said racks, a driving connection for said walking beam,and a plurality of sheaves for guiding the cables from the hopper plateto opposite sides of said drum.

2. Apparatus in accordance with claim 1 having a plurality of linksconnected to the walking beam for maintaining the meshing relationshipbetween the pinions and the racks.

3. Apparatus in accordance with claim l in which at least one of thesheaves is provided with a oating mount permitting the sheave 'bothlinear and rotational movement.

4. Apparatus in accordance with claim 1 in which the framework isprovided with adjusting means for the racks.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS960,211 Whitmore May 31, 1910 2,258,191 Payne Oct. 7, 1941 2,890,725Brannock lune 16, 1959 FOREIGN PATENTS 12,301 Great Britain 1908

